WHITE EAGLE

Serials usually spawned feature film versions, but with this film, it was the other way around. A 1932 Buck Jones Western, White Eagle was made into a serial nine years later, again starring Jones in the title role, a (supposedly) Native American Pony Express Rider defending his people against a gang of evil Whites. Oldtimer Raymond Hatton appeared as Jones' grizzled sidekick, and Dorothy Fay provided feminine interest. The bad guys were headed by James Craven and the mean-looking Jack Ingram. Unfortunately, the seemingly progressive serial caved into studio pressure by having its Native American protagonist turn out to be White after all and only adopted by the Indians. Fay later married Singing Cowboy Tex Ritter and was the mother of television star John Ritter.